Delhi’s drug supplier: Who is Ali?

New Delhi (IANS): Ali is a recurring moniker in the nefarious world of drug trade in the subcontinent and beyond, but even three years after his name first surfaced in 2012, investigating agencies admit he remains a “mystery” and continues to be “out of reach”.

Knowledgeable sources in the Delhi Police said that Ali sells cocaine and heroin in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) and Mumbai, as also in states like Andhra Pradesh and Punjab. Ali’s trans-national syndicate is also spread across Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Kuwait, among others.

“Continued investigations resulted in more arrests of drug peddlers from Ali’s network. We also got a better understanding of how high-quality drugs are being pushed into India by him through the Punjab border but his presence in India is still a mystery for us,” a Delhi Police Special Cell officer admitted to IANS on condition of anonymity.

“Although we are working relentlessly to stop drug trafficking in Delhi with the help of the Narcotics Control Bureau and its state units, Ali and other peddlers continue to supply narcotics to addicts,” he added.

Ali’s name is among those of the most wanted by the Delhi Police.

An officer of the Delhi Police, who was in the narcotics department for more than 11 years, said that a team comprising Inspector Vivek Pathak, Sub-inspector Paramjeet Singh and Head Constable Sanjeev Kumar supervised by Deputy commissioner of Police Sanjay Bhatia had first got Ali’s name from a South African national who was arrested in January 2012.

“After the arrest of a South African, Kelly Williams Mbane aged 36, from Chirag Dilli with 40 grams of cocaine worth Rs.40 lakh ($63,000) in the international market, the Crime Branch got to know about Ali,” the officer said also on condition of anonymity.

But Mbane had told the police that Ali was involved in supplying cocaine in Mumbai’s pubs and bars.

The officers then thought that Ali was a part of a drug cartel, but his role as an international drug dealer came to light in December 2013 when a Special Cell team arrested four members of his gang with 47 kg of fine quality heroin and two kg of cocaine.

“It was the biggest seizure valued over Rs. 150 crore,” the official added.

Venugopal Reddy, Ragmeet Singh, Shurbir Singh and Autar Singh, the members of the international drug syndicate, were held from Delhi with the joint effort of Punjab and the Delhi Police Special Cell.

“After the arrest of a gang comprising three Sikhs and a Tamilian in 2013, we discovered Ali’s role as an international drug dealer. The four then informed the police that Ali was based in Kuwait. He, along with Afghan-based Samiullah and several Pakistani, Indian and Sri Lankan dealers, would engage in the drug trade,” the officer said.

Ali contacts his associates through the internet.

He had recently visited Andhra Pradesh but went underground before the information reached the police, said a police source.

“Ali is out of reach, but our efforts are on because his arrest will lead us to smash a network of drug syndicates that supplies narcotics in several countries,” the officer added.

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